FWIW I demo’d both briefly and I thought the Empyreans were way too veiled in the midrange, similar to the LCD2 Classic I briefly owned. The Elites sounded much clearer while still being easy to listen to with great bass, similar to the LCD-X which I now own :).

Technically they didn’t send new pads, just new adhesive attachment rings so that I could reinstall/realign the misaligned pad. The pads themselves though were in mint (possibly unused) condition.

I bought an LCD-X and the only issue was one of the pads was misaligned by about a centimeter. I contacted customer service, who responded to my email in about 15 minutes, and they sent out new glue rings so that I could remove the pad and realign it correctly.

Other than that it looks (and smells) completely new, and well worth saving $500 ($1199 down to $699).

Same here; I couldn’t stand the clamp and the top of the head hotspot of the Clear MG even though I was in love with the sound. Returned them and bought an LCD-X and maybe I’m weird, but I find these far more comfortable.

I’m from middle Wisconsin and can mimic a Chicagoan!

The half-donut looking things mainly used for traveling?

Any word on if the headband is sturdier than the Clear’s?

This. Drives my T60 Argons wonderfully.